Beautiful Crimson
by chloemcg
Summary: Alfendi Layton comes in to the Mystery room one day to find his beloved assistant crying her eyes out. Can Al use his investigative skills to find out why and help Lucy? Lucifendi, one-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters from Layton brothers: mystery room. The characters belong to their respective owners in Level five games and I own nothing, nada, zilch!**

 **Beautiful Crimson.**

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Inspector Alfendi Layton was rarely caught off guard.

There were some cases that tended to puzzle him and even bother him silly (not that he shown it) but he was always calm and collected at any situation and was barely fazed by anything that would probably shock most people. Being the son of the famous Professor Hershel Layton had managed to mould him to be pretty well-tempered at the most appropriate of times...in his placid form anyway.

He would have been lying if he had claimed that he was never shocked or surprised by anything but he remained placid and even a bit hot-tempered thanks to his other persona, Potty Prof.

Years ago Al had been involved in an incident which had involved both him and a savage serial killer named Keelan Makepeace. The incident had left him in a coma for awhile and, while he was in his silent slumber, the culprit that Makepeace had tried to pin his crime on Alfendi and had read this silly little book of hypnosis and brainwash him into thinking he had done it. From that dreadful crime, Alfendi's Split personality was born.

Anyways Alfendi was just opening the door to the mystery room, the keys jingling in his hand as he inserted the correct key into the keyhole and he proceeded to gently open the door to his special Mystery room and he got a good look on the inside of his beloved room filled with murders and files of numerous crimes that were awaiting his deductions. That and he was welcomed to find items and other various objects strewn all around the room.

But what else he found had actually _shocked_ him to the core.

Detective constable Lucy Baker had huddled up into a small ball as she sat on a small chair that was initially tucked away in the corner of the office. The orange cap that was perched on her head was lower than it normally should have been, her body wracked with heavy sobs and she had buried her face in her hands as she cried her eyes out to the point of relentlessness. Her skin was two shades away from her complexion being totally phantom-like.

She was crying huge tears of despair.

Alfendi instantly felt his heart skip a beat and he gasped upon seeing his plucky assistant in such a state. He didn't even hesitate to run over to her and kneel down by her side and he asked with his tone instantly betraying that he was concerned.

he asked her, "Lucy! What's the matter, are you hurt?"

Lucy jumped a bit at hearing Al's voice but she didn't peel her face away from her hands. She just continued to sob and cry herself hoarse as she shook her head to answer the Prof's question and didn't dare look up from her constant wallowing.

Al almost heaved a sigh of relief when he had the assurance that she wasn't in pain or sick or anything. But he quickly prevented himself from relaxing just yet when he knew he had to get to the root cause of Lucy's deepening hole of despair; Lucy was usually so cheery and optimistic, just why was she behaving like this?

Upon closer study, Al noticed that Lucy's shoulders were bunched up and he could hear the beginnings of a sore throat make itself known in Lucy's croaking sobs.

The inspector decided to keep his interrogation up while he delicately probed her. "Lucy, what's the matter?"

He made sure to soften his tone a bit, his rich faux voice dripping in sympathy and worry for his lovely young assistant. He could hear Lucy sniffle before she said something, her Yorkshire-accented voice was muffled by the fact that she was speaking into her hands and she was still a hard book to read when she was hiding her face like this.

Maybe she was crying for something that had occurred recently and was simply weeping because of this.

Alfendi reluctantly reached forwards, his arm stiff and a tad shaky, and he patted Lucy's shoulder consolingly; her shoulder felt as hard as a firm wall of stone under his touch and this fact made the inspector's worries increase dramatically.

"Lucy, dear," He murmured softly "please tell me what's wrong."

Another long silence had passed, the silence being broken only by the quiet sniffles and sobs that came from the young lady.

Alfendi had learned to be very sensitive to a woman's emotions thanks to his gentleman father and he had known all too well that no gentleman just sat by and let a lady cry her eyes out. All he could do was grip her shoulder, despite it tensing under his touch, and wait until she was ready to talk. It wasn't even a minute until Lucy calmed herself enough to do this.

The seconds ticked by when Lucy finally lifted her eyes, brushing her bright red sniffly nose with one of her sleeves and then she looked up at the inspector with her face full of hurt and her sweet scarlet irised eyes frail and glossy.

"P-Prof? Can I ask you summat?" Lucy croaked, quickly averting her gaze from Alfendi's.

Alfendi blinked with confusion as he merely stared at his plucky assistant. He couldn't help but wonder if this inquiry was behind to the young detective constable's serious onslaught of tears, he felt as though his heart were a sandbag and he frowned with his ears wide open whilst he prepared for the oncoming question. He lowered his hand from her shoulder and waited for what would come from her mouth next.

Lucy sighed heavily and looked pitifully down at her lap, a soft whimper caught in her throat "Wot do you think of my eyes?"

The inspector hadn't expected this question to come from Lucy's lips. Her eyes? What about her eyes, and why did she want _his_ opinion on them? He had been caught off-guard once again with that inquiry and he knew that he was close to obtaining the reason behind these tears of distress. But he had to ask something from her first; "In what aspect, Lucy?"

Lucy's head hung, her own hair and orange cap shielding her expression. She grit her teeth and a bitter tone crept into her normally upbeat voice.

"A-Are they ugly?"

The resourceful inspector Layton was utterly shocked. Just why would she think such a thing? Where did she get such a silly idea? He was rather embarrassed to admit it but he would actually find himself lost in thought when he became enchanted by those beautifully unique wells of Scarlet swirled with Crimson with a dip of Cherry. He had no idea why she hated those lovely eyes but Alfendi was now even more determined to get to the bottom of this.

He exclaimed, astounded by such a question, "No! Why would you think that?"

Lucy's eyes shattered as she cried once more, flinging herself right at the older man as she gripped to the neat folds of his coat. She buried her teary face into Al's chest and wailed for all she was worth while her voice was dying into inaudibility from her previous bouts of crying.

Alfendi was as still as a tombstone for several moments while his brain registered what was currently transpiring. His plucky and chirpy assistant was now hollering for comfort now because she got the dumb idea in her head that her eyes were weren't very nice. He regained his grasp and gently furled his arms around Lucy and cradled her against his chest while one hand stroked her back to try and soothe her.

The scruffy inspector of Scotland Yard was at a loss.

How could he remedy this? How could he fix this problem? More over, how could he get her to stop crying so hysterically?

Al was honestly lost at what he could do now? It wasn't like he could offer any words of comfort and he felt like a heartless person to not try and cheer her up.

Alfendi's hair turned into a scarlet red colour and became untamed and dishevelled, his placid persona vanishing abruptly into thin air while he turned into his rash, violent and moody alter ego known as Potty Prof and the shift from "Placid" to "Potty" was quick and silent so it was barely noticeable and the second he changed he glanced down at the young lady.

"Stop snivelling so pathetically, or I'll cut out your tongue!" He snapped.

Lucy gasped with shock as she looked up at Al, eyes still watery and pitiful.

Al's expression softened a touch and she registered in the Prof's faux voice something unlike she had ever heard before and it shocked her. It sounded like this gentle tenderness that she hadn't quite been used to hearing, she didn't know what to make of it. "Lucy, _look at me_."

The poor detective constable started sniffling again as she dried her eyes with her sleeve again, except this time not doing such a good job at it, and she looked Al directly in the eye. There was this serious pit of concern pooling in the Prof's unique golden eyes and she couldn't help but feel a brand of guilt upon making him worry. Al decided to ask the main question as directly as possible, he delicately slipped his hand on Lucy's cheek which felt hot under his palm.

"Did someone say something about your eyes?"

Lucy didn't answer right away and eyed the floor for a couple of long moments before she looked back up and meekly responded with a little nod, her heart pounding away in her chest as she did so while trying not to break down again.

The inspector didn't say anything more as he awaited an explanation, his untidy mop of hair turned from its violent Crimson back to its calm purple colour. Clearly Placid was in control again and she knew that she should oblige and tell the Prof about what had happened to make her so distraught.

Lucy swallowed hard before she finally started to explain.

"Y'see, awhile ago I met this bloke whom were in t'same course as me. T'was during me exams when we started seein' each other and...he..." She trailed off, looking away before she collected herself "He were kind t'me and I...liked him. But las' night he c-came t'me house and said that m-me eyes were...!"

Tears had begun to cascade down her face as she forced the last of the story out through her crying,"...The jerky-turkey called m-me eyes fr-freakish and said that he were breakin' up with me c-cause o'them!"

When Lucy finished her tale, she started to break down all over again. Her body wracked and convulsed with relentless sobs as she cried harder than she had been before and she sounded destroyed because of what that big brute —for lack of a better word— had said about her unique red irises.

Honestly this story made Alfendi so cross that it didn't take long before "Potty" decided to take over once again. His fists were clenched and his eyes were pooling with anger and rage as his hair became wild and untamed once again, his eyes becoming animalistic. But he had to reassure his poor heart-broken assistant afore all else. The Prof cooled himself and gently held Lucy's face in his hands and started to wipe away some stray tears with his thumb.

He spoke in the most hushed and serious tone he could.

"Listen to me. The man who told you this is a complete dimwit; your eyes are _far_ from freakish! They are like the canvas of the fresh blood from a murder victim only if the essence was perfectly captured, melded together with the fires and volcanic eruptions of admirable determination!"

Lucy wondered if that were a compliment as she knew how much "Potty" Prof was enamoured by blood and criminals. She could feel her hot cheeks burning like magma and her voice had completely deserted her so she couldn't utter a word as she looked straight into Al's nice golden irises.

The very next words that slipped from Alfendi's lips came pouring out involuntarily as he held Lucy's face. His intellectual golden eyes were wide with exasperation and his chest felt as though it were a drum being smacked upon by multiple individual drumsticks. He had no clue as to where the words had so suddenly come from but he just couldn't stop them from slipping off his tounge.

"A-And they are the most _beautifully_ _stunning_ eyes I have ever seen!"

It was only after saying that when Alfendi became completely quiet. His eyes were wide and his whole face was one touch away from being the same shade as the Crimson dishevelled mess of hair atop his head, his palms had suddenly become sweaty as he quickly released the younger twenty-two year old.

Her cheeks slipped from his palms.

The detective constable took a moment to mop up the remainder of her tears with one of her olive green sleeves, when she looked back up she almost jumped back.

Alfendi suddenly turned right back into Placid and smiled gently as he offered his hand out to her while he stood up. His transformation was so quick that Lucy could have sworn that the nice and quiet moment had only lasted for about a nanosecond, she blinked her puffy red eyes up at her friend and frowned with confusion.

Al simply gripped her hand and pulled his assistant up to her feet as he made a suggestion despite the blush reddening his cheeks. His smile was rather squiggly with awkwardness and his brows were creased over his golden/yellow eyes as he lifted a hand to scratch timidly at the back of the placid purple mop he called hair, minding his ponytail.

He now seemed to have been nervous and evasive for some reason.

"Now, my dear, why don't we do some of our normal investigating?"

He quickly went over to fetch some files from his desk, leaving an astonished Lucy behind to stew in her own thoughts for a few long moments.

The Prof hadn't acted so tender towards her before and she kind of wanted to hope that it were some kind of crazy nightmare-turned-dream to try and convince herself that she wasn't losing her mind. But some slight disappointment also crept into her heart and she had no clue as to why, maybe it had something to do with "Potty" Prof trying to tell her something and then not being able to due to "Placid" Prof taking over?

Regardless she couldn't help but feel much better thanks to the kindly inspector. He was a bit cuckoo and had Split Personalty Disorder and he wasn't the most tidy and well-dressed man in the whole wide world but he was still a gentleman in his own right. His heart was one of the most golden she come across, even though Al probably wouldn't like to think so.

Without _her_ Prof, she didn't know how she'd cope.

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 **A/N: Ok, this is ANOTHER late Valentines special. But this is a Lucifendi story, my first attempt at one. How did I do? I thought that this would be something nice to do to switch things up a bit and I have another Professor/Inspector father/son fanfic in the works which I hope you guys would like to read eventually.**

 **Until then, however, I hope that this fic piques your interest and I hope you all had a nice day to spend time with the people you love.**

 **-Chloemcg**


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